First government-owned pot store opens in Washington state

The city of North Bonneville, Wash. — population 1,000 — sits along the Columbia River a stone’s throw from one of the world’s largest hydroelectric dams. On the other side of the Columbia River Gorge is the state of Oregon.

It may seem an unlikely place for the nation’s first city-owned marijuana shop, which opened Saturday. The Cannabis Corner sold $8,000 worth of pot on the first day.

“The economy has been tough for everybody, for small towns like this, it’s been especially tough,” said North Bonneville Mayor Don Stevens. “And I think after people got over the initial shock of how we were going about it, they realized that what we’re doing is trying to create new revenue streams at a time not a lot of them are available.” Read More…

Marijuana legalization advocates are suing to block state and local governments from collecting certain taxes on weed sold in Colorado, out of concern that businesses paying the fees would incriminate themselves at the federal level.